Broody vs Incubator Pros and Cons

[Cyprus]

Hello friends
Has anyone used both a broody hen and an incubator to hatch chicks? If so, what are some pros and cons to each and, in your opinion, which is a better investment?
Thanks in advance,
Cyprus

 

[NNYchick]

I do use both. It’s a toss up for me. Less work using a broody but even though I have higher hatch rate with broody 90% vs 75% they seem to lose more chicks to freak accidents like getting tangled in broody feathers.
Some have a better time with integrating broody hatch chicks as they are hatched as part of the flock. But since I started putting my incubator hatched chicks in the coop with the mama heating pad set up in at 1-2 weeks they are integrated in my flock by 3-4 weeks.
Depending on the breed of broody you can usually hatch larger number of eggs in incubator.
Broody are unpredictable. Hen is broody on her time and may give up in the middle of a hatch. Incubator is always ready. I also wouldn’t trust expensive shipped eggs to a broody as they need special care for hatching.
For me I use both I have a small incubator janoel 12 and Silkies. I’ve been able to do hatches at about every 2 weeks I have a new batch of chicks. I’m new at hatching this year is my first. Sure others with more experience can add to the list.

 

[Spartan22]

I am newbie on both, I’ve hatched eggs on good incubators since last year and had nearly 100% results few times and for the last month or so 4-6 of my hens went broody for the first time in my 5 years of chicken keeping.

I’ll start with the incubator hatch first, if you have the pricey good reliable incubator like Brinsea EX models, the outcome is awesome, it regulate the temp & relative humidity accurately and has auto water feeder & automatic egg turner, meaning all I did was place the eggs in and put the water reservoir and tube then press the settings and leave it alone till lock down(day 18) My first hatched started on day 20th and end on day 22. Out of 14 viable eggs 13 hatched without any glitch then transfer the chicks to a brooder with heat lamp or heat pad.

On broody hens, I stuck 4-8 eggs each under broody. But other hens constantly adding eggs under them, that means they either kicking out the broodies or sitting together to lay eggs that resulted with some fights that broke some eggs with partially developed chicks and also trampled baby chicks when they hatched, needless to say I was constantly monitoring the egg count, removing new unfertililized and the broodies if they are ok. If they had been kicked out and couldn’t get back on time to their egg clutch before the eggs get cold. Happened to two hens that got lost and sat on wrong eggs and in wrong nests. What’s the odd, out of 4 broodies and 26 viable eggs only 2 chicks each hatched or survived properly. After learning my lesson to sequester each broody and make them a quick temporary mini cage rooms (2’x3’ size) with their own waterers and feeders that they can get off the eggs eat and drink and do their business without nest being interrupted or bothered by other hens.

Now it’s been 2 wks since the first broody has her first chicks, the last broody on its 3rd day with new babies. They’re all happy, feeding their own broods and regulating the temps without me putting up heat lamp or feeding and watering the chicks in either our laundry room or garage. There’s nothing more fun to look at than seeing baby chicks peeking from under momma hens.
After mentioning all the pros and cons on both, I’m not sure what I prefer yet, I guess I’ll cross that bridge in few months.

 

[MigraineMan]

We had bad luck with the broodies - stepping on eggs, fighting with other hens for the "favorite" nesting box, returning from the morning constitutional and sitting on the wrong eggs, etc. With our first broody, we had 0/10 hatch. The second broody walked off the nest after a week, so we ended up incubating those 9 eggs. Three of those went bad and were culled. One just hatched, and the remaining five are still in the incubator.

We tried going the au-naturel route, and had bad luck. I would expect a 50% mortality rate if you leave it up to the hen. Weigh that against the benefit of the momma-chick bond. Choose a path - neither is fundamentally "right" or "wrong." Proceed.